If you’re struggling to hang on to your New Year’s resolutions, let the heat of summer serve as some extra motivation. As it gets too hot to cook with heat-excreting appliances, take to the fridge with its fresh and cooling seasonal produce. Here’s how to bump up flavour and nutrition with simple, sneaky steps.

By Jana du Plessis

In plain sight

They say the best way to hide something is to leave it in plain sight. And we agree! Try to add fresh foods without it being obvious, like cooling cucumber in an Indian raita or Greek tzatziki. It’s easy to whip up and tastes delicious!

A sensory experience

Think about the texture of your meals to see if something fresh could add to the eating experience. Crunchy lettuce and a juicy tomato is always welcome on a homemade burger, just like adding salad ingredients to a wrap gives it more flavour varieties.

On a limb

Use fresh ingredients in ways that you haven’t before. Have you tried lettuce cups filled with spiced meat? Or paired a cooked dish with a vibrant uncooked garnish? The kitchen awaits, start experimenting!

The post The fresher the better! How to incorporate more fresh ingredients into your diet appeared first on MyKitchen.

‘Healthy’ is such a relative term. For a sufferer of a chronic illness, healthy means being cured of their ailment. For someone who is overweight, it means shedding a few kilos or being happy in their skin. Being healthy depends on your own point of view and that changes the way you strive to become more healthy or manage your already-healthy lifestyle.

By Jana du Plessis

Careful comparison
It’s easy to identify someone close to you – a friend, family member or work colleague – who lives a healthy, balanced life in a way that makes you believe they have the whole healthy thing all figured out. You scrutinise their food choices, eating habits and gym regime in the hope of glimpsing the secret to their success. It may seem that following their principles will lead to you being the same sort of healthy, but don’t forget to calculate your own goals into the equation. What are their goals? Do they practise a sport that needs a strict training program and nutrient guidelines? Or do they aim to enjoy food and life in as simple and wholesome a fashion as possible? If your goals are not the same, you cannot expect the same results.

Make a plan
Before you throw out the pantry and give your fridge a makeover with unprocessed foods, establish why you want to become more healthy and define your end goal. If it’s losing weight, focus on being more active, eating enough protein and not going crazy on the sweet things. If you want to kick an unhealthy habit like your daily 3 PM chocolate, aim to rather eat a sweet fruit when the craving hits. Once you know what you are working towards, it’s easier to devise a plan and stick to it.

What’s mine is not yours
Each of us view being healthy in a different light. To you, eating low-GI bread, staying away fromrefined sugars and limiting fats may be the rules to eating healthily, while the organic foodie goes nuts with coconut oil and maple syrup – as long as it’s free from chemical ingredients and other unfavourable additives! It is often a slippery slope when it comes to figuring out who is on the more healthy path. Do some research and experiment with different theories, habits and food to learn what healthy living means to you. Just be sure to let other people follow their own personal health journeys along the way.

The post What does being healthy mean to you? appeared first on MyKitchen.

By Jana du Plessis

Summer is officially here in all its balmy glory! With it comes beach days and plenty of skin-baring outfits that have many of us worried about those extra brownie(s) we scoffed down during winter. From there, the simple click of a button will open up a plethora of trendy diets and ‘foolproof’ weight-loss tricks to get your bod summer-ready in no time. Here’s why it’s not even worth your time.

Clean slate
Losing weight is based on the simple principle of the way the human metabolism operates: energy in must equal energy out. In order to shed the kilos, you need to put in less energy than you are expecting to put out. During winter, we fill our bellies with warming curries and luscious baked puddings, but come summertime, our bodies no longer need the extra comfort and warmth of a slowly-simmering stew. Fuelling yourself with lighter, nourishing fare will benefit your health, well-being and waistline.

Scrap that diet
If your first reaction to your winter weight gain is to limit your kilojoule intake and to sip on pressed juices all day long, think again. Even though you want the energy you use to exceed that which you take in, you still need to feed your body with good-for-you foods for your best chance at feeling and looking your best. If you are on a diet where certain foods are off-limits, it will only make you miserable knowing that everyone else can eat what they want, while you have a boring plate of grilled fish and steamed veg staring back at you. Do be mindful of the food you eat, the way it was prepared and your portion sizes, but don’t restrict foods such as avos, nuts, carbs and red meat – all filled with lots of nutrients – just because you found a diet online that says it’s bad for you.

Take your pick
But let’s get back to the weight-loss equation: the source of energy that goes in does matter. Eating a banana after lunch will have a less severe effect on your blood-sugar levels than having a chocolate bar; or enjoying some oven-roasted potatoes instead of a plate of greasy fries for dinner will certainly help to keep your cholesterol in check. What we are trying to say is that restricting yourself to a certain number of meals or a set amount of kilojoules per day will make it seem as though eating well and staying healthy is a mammoth task. Rather, eat when you are hungry (after all, your body is telling you that it needs energy), stop when you are full and always be sure to enjoy lots of fruit, veggies, unsaturated fats and lean proteins to sustain your body throughout the day.

Have your cake and eat it
Don’t be that obsessive person who can’t eat this or has to say ‘no’ to that. If 80% of your diet is made up of nutrient-dense foods and you engage in regular exercise, then the other 20%, made of your favourite treats and holiday munchies, won’t derail your weight-loss efforts. Plus, it will take care of your mental well-being as well!

The post Ditch the diet and go for wholesome instead appeared first on MyKitchen.